Leadership requires you to have a strong voice. Good leaders speak vision, fight mediocrity, and inspire those he leads. The problem comes when your voice and actions get disconnected from the people you’re supposed to lead. The truth is that your voice is only strong as your ability to listen. Gradually your leadership voice is falling on deaf ears because you losing touch with Ghanaians.

Mr President, decisions can be affected by fallacies. Decisions are taken based on subjective knowledge. Knowledge need to be prioritized or decisions can lead to death. Those advising you to take a second look at the Cathedral issue should not be seen as anti-Christ or people who do not wish you well in your governance endeavours. Populism is a fallacy of priorities: people decides based on the smile of politics instead of deciding based on best actions. As a lawyer you know that a trial is clearly a decision between several facts, having priorities a very important impact. Bad priorities leads to judicial error. According to clinicians, medication error can largely be prevented with feasible and affordable interventions. Prioritize is a new, convenient, systematic and replicable method, and merit further exploration with a view to becoming a part of a routine preventative patient safety monitoring mechanism. All these examples point to one sacred fact that: getting your priorities right is one of the attributes of a good leader. Active, engaged listening is essential to having the heart of Ghanaians. Focused listening, listening to Ghanaians to understand the position they espouse, shows you truly care about Ghanaians. This attitude of “I know it all and don’t need your perspective on decisions I take” is gradually destroying your person, the government you leading and your political party and portraying you a dictator than the liberal democrat you claim to be.

As reported by the French newspaper Le Monde, many people feel that cathedrals reflect”an error in priorities” and that the churches should invest in people and in evangelization rather than in stones and decorations. No doubt many some who share in the building of this vast edifice have a sincere love of God but it is not according to accurate knowledge. Roman 10:2 Jesus Christ never suggested that his followers construct elaborate house of worship. He urged true worshippers to “worship with spirit and truth” . John 4:21-24 in spite of their beauty, Christendom’s mighty cathedrals stand in contradiction to this principles. They may be monuments to the men who built them, but they fail to glorify God.

Mr President, how are we going to maintain this edifice? After Christ’s death his disciples organised themselves into congregations, many of which met in private homes according to my research. (Philemon 2) for decades these congregations were cared for by spiritually older men (Act 20:17, 28 Hebrew 13:17) After the death of the apostles, there was a falling away from true Christianity (Act 20:29,) in time, a number of elders elevated themselves above others and became viewed as bishops having oversight of a number of congregations something Jesus had warned against. Historian Henry Kraus states :”As deeply religious an era as the Middle Ages were, the construction of churches was not people’s priority. Many historians criticised the church for its extravagance. Admits The Horizon Book of Great Cathedrals:” The money expended by the church for building could have been used to feed the famished or to maintain hospitals and schools. Thus, it could be said that the cathedrals cost hundreds of thousands of human lives”

Mr President, those are not my words or words from your critics. Even today the Cathedral at Evry, to name one, provokes harsh criticism.

Mr President, we still have hundreds of state buildings including places built to keep our cocoa, turned into churches. All the structures built at the various railway stations are being used as church premises. State lands have been sold illegally to churches and private developers by criminals operating around the railway stations etc. Why are we unleashing this bitter treatment on this beautiful country.

Mr President, we still have hundreds of uncompleted state projects across the country including schools, hospitals, roads etc. We still have huge housing deficit hanging on our necks, teachers bungalows, medical facilities in our schools, prisons etc and your priority is the National Cathedral?

Mr President, change never happens in vacuum. No matter the description you give to yourself and the self aggrandizements, the impact can only be see and only last as long as it takes people to get up and leave the room. True change requires a leadership address that communicate clearly that you care and know the people you leading. It is more than a great speech or a great sermon. You losing your leadership voice because you don’t listen to understand Ghanaians. Ghanaians have stopped listening to you just like you have stopped listening to them.

Mr President, you have these critical issues to tackle

– Recruitment of more nurses and doctors

-Inadequate schools to meet the increased number of students as result of the Free SHS

-Disbursement of statutory funds

-Bad Roads

-Hosing deficit

-Inadequate health faculties

-NHIS/ School feeding challenges

-Inadequate structures in our schools including the tertiary institutions

-Water and Electricity provision (expansion)

Mr President, set a new course of active listening. Listen with energy, commitment, and passion. Listen with curiosity to learn, ask questions. Listen with empathy, care enough about Ghanaians and put yourself I their shoes.

Mr President, let me leave you with this :”as the number one in the country, you must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s.

Thank You.

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